welcome to "newsline." u.s. investigators say they may be able to identify a suspect at the boston bombings through

security video. policing combing through a mountain of evidence. investigators have been analyzianalyze ing fragments of the devices. people captured what happened before, during and after the explosions. some media outlets report video from one camera shows a person who police believe is a suspect. fbi an localolice he scheduled a news conference but they postponed it as they continue to analyze the evidence. the fbi says a granular substance contained in a letter addressed to president barack obama tested positive for the poisonous ricin. the u.s. secret service said the letter was intercepted as a white house mail screening

facility on tuesday. press secretary jay carney says the president has been briefed on the letter and orders the investigation continue in the boston bombings first and say this is no indicated link between the letters and the bombings. >> the bombings in boston that killed and maimed people have his absolute focus. >> u.s. media say a suspicious letter was also found at the congressional office of republican senator richard shelby of alabama. and senator roger wickeras also targeted this week. chinese warships patrolled disputes islands wednesday as part of an exercise. the senkaku islands are

controlled by japan but claimed by china and taiwan. china's state-run media say the ships are part of their navy fleets, including a missile destroyer and a missile frigate. the vessels entered the waters on tuesday night and stayed until just before dawn the next day, after conducting drills in the western pacific. they practiced inspecting and seizing suspicious vessels. a reporter from the state run news agency on board the destroyer quoted a senior fleet officer as saying, the islands are an integral part of chinese territory. the officer also said it's perfectly legal and justifiable for the navy to navigate in the waters around the islands and that there is no cause for criticism. chinese media noted that april 17th is the anniversary of the signing of a treaty ending the sino-japanese war in 1895. china claims that japan stole the islands near the end of the war. the flare-up of tension over

the senkaku islands has coincided with a spike in fighter jet scrambles in japan to deal with aircraft from china. self-defense force pilots took to the air more than 300 times in the past year to respond to chinese activity, surpassing the number for russian planes for the first time. defense ministry officials say pilots made emergency take-offs against foreign aircraft approaching japanese air space 567 times from april 2012 to the end of march of this year. that's a 20-year high. the number of scrambles against chinese planes almost doubled from the previous fiscal year. they increased sharply after last september following the japanese government's move to nationalize the senkaku islands. a chinese government plane flew close to the islands last year, the first intrusion into japanese airspace since the sdf began keeping records. >> translator: at this point, i don't think china would make approaches that would turn into military conflicts with japan.

>> but a former air self-defense force commander also says if japan softens its stance on territorial protection, china could become increasingly active. south korean president park says enough is enough. she says it's time to stop the practice of rewarding north korea in the face of its increasingly belligerent threats. she says her country will not be intimidated into a dialogue with north korea. >> translator: the vicious cycle of the north creating a crisis before returning to negotiations and receiving assistance must be broken. the international community should speak with one voice to deliver this message. >> park met with a group of foreign ambassadors in seoul. she's trying to work with other nations to create an environment in which north korea will

respond to a call for dialogue. south korea hopes to hold talks with the north on resuming operations at the kaesong industrial complex which is jointly run by the two nations. the north has blocked access to kaesong since early this month amid worsening tensions. aung san suu kyi has spent the past several days in japan laying out her vision for her country's future. >> observers can find encouragements in the new survey. results suggest economic activity has picked up across the country. officials on wednesday released the outcome of the survey carried out in the businesses first 12 districts. they say recovery is apparent in housing and automobile markets. business owners in most districts also say production was on the up. officials reported hiring was

unchanged or showed slight improvement but they said labor shortages troubled communication sectors. consumers up spending modestly except in tourism where spending is strong. some bosses in the military sector said they had to layoff employees after last month's automatic budget cuts. most said the economy could continue to improver but they said it was a major threat to recovery. but they said it was major threat to recovery. this is due to the higher cost of fuel imports as the yen continued to weakened. finance ministry officials said the trade deficit came to $3.7 billion. exports rose 1.1% from a year earlier in yen terms. that's the first rise in two months. imports rose 5.5%. it rose for a fifth straight

month. higher demand for crude oil and liquefied gas was aajor stumble. the dow jones industrial average ended up 14,618. down more than .9 of a percent. for more on how stocks are trading, let's go to ramin at the tokyo stock exchange. seems like we're having a bald week with stocks up and down every day. >> it does seem that way. we had housing data on tuesday that rose and now we see the likes of bank of america and

some of the major tech suppliers coming out with weak numbers and forecast this which pulled down the key indexes as well. let's look at how that is translating into the opening levels for today, thursday, april 18th here. both indexes in thenegative. 1347 down one 1% the nikkei. down 1,125 for the topix. the nikkei rebounded on wednesday. the focus today may shift to financial and tech related shares especially as shares of apple fell in relation to one of the suppliers on its outlook sighting in ipad shipments. we're going to being looking out for component suppliers here in japan that make a lot of parts that go into products such as tablets and smart phones of which apple makes many of those as well.

we keep track of that sector as well. >> kicking off later today the g-20 over in washington, d.c. as we've been reporting a lot of focus will be on the recent weakening yen. where do we stand lead of that key meeting? >> a lot of market players will be watching the g-20 meeting and thedollar/yen. that may trade in a ltle bit of rgehead of that meeting and it's still weaker than it was this time yesterday when it was at the mid 97 yen levels. we'll keep track of that. the euro/yen 127.54 to 59. it traded up to upper 129 during wednesday. as you can see now 127.49 to 52. there were concerns that the european central bank may cut interest rates to boost growt

in the euro zone. we'll keep track of currency markets. a bit of a focus there for the tech sector following those moves in apple shares and some of its suppliers. i'll leave you with a check on some other markets.

aung san suu kyi has spent the past several days in japan laying out her vision for her country's future. it's the first time the nobel laurte and myanmar opposition leader has come here in 27 years. she spoke to nhk about the pace of democratization and reform, relations with the military, and her political future. nhk world's satoru aoyama has more. >> reporter: aung san suu kyi has traveled around the world seeking help in her country's quest for democracy and economic expansion. she's now asking japanese leaders for their support. >> if you want to hope for something, you've got to work for it too. >> reporter: myanmar returned to civilian law two years ago. president thein sein released political prisoners and

abolished republication censorship of the media, among other policy changes. he won international praise and nations eased sanctions against the country, which is also known as burma. aung san suu kyi's national league for demracy, the largest opposition, won 43 of the 45 seats up for grabs last year in parliamentary bi-elections. she became a member of parliament. she says her country still has a long way to go. >> for me reform means real change in the lives of our people, and i don't think there has been enough progress in that direction. i think most people in burma would say that there has been no real change in their lives since 2010. >> reporter: the nobel laureate has suggested she's ready to further the push for democracy by working with the military and other forces, her former opponents.

>> we've always said that the key to a better future for our country is national reconciliation. it's cooperation and it's working together toward -- toward shared aspirations and shared goals. >> reporter: some experts say aung san suuyi could be president following an election in 2015. >> i'm confident that there's every chance that i can become president of this country. but i would not like to say i'm confident that i will become president of the country because that's assuming that the people will vote for me. and it's for them to decide, not for me to decide for them. >> reporter: aung san suu kyi is aiming trevise myanmar's constitution, which gives preferential treatment to the military. but to do that, her party will need to win the 2015 general election, and she has to gain the support of the military,

which still has strong influence. aung san suu kyi will need to rely on her decades of political experience more than ever. satoru aoyama, nhk world, tokyo. ilitts are doing what they can to disrupt pakistan. voters are scheduled to go to the polls in general elections in may. they are growing increasingly concerned about their own security. >> reporter: the latest hit an election rally for the anp party on tuesday evening. a man brought explosives and detonated them at the event in

the north western city. >> translator: we were nearby when the blast hit. we rushed over to find body parts lying on the ground and the driver trapped in a burning building. many were injured. >> reporter: the blast killed at least 17 people including three children and a reporter who was covering the event. 78 people were injured. among the wounded was pakistan's former minister and a senior member of the anp. the anp strongly opposes islamic fundamentalist groups. the pakistani taliban has claimed responsibility for the blast. in a separate incident on tuesday it will take us through a hand grenade and politician

from the party. bystanders were injured. another bombing targeted a candidate representing the largest opposition party. four people were killed in the attack. attacks house targeted. this month an armed group attacked a power plant that supplies peswar. the incident has caused a shadow in an area where power outages are already frequent. terrorist attacks claimed the lives of 40,000 people in pakistan in the past decade. so far this year more than 200 have died in terror attacks targeting muslims. the government is under pressure to ensure public safety during the campaign season and upcoming

elections. a french energy company has sent cargo to japan. a ship is carrying a blend of plutonium and uranium. they are delivering it to the power company. the people who run it plan to use the fuel at their plant in central japan. the complex, like most nuclear facilities in the country, is currently offline. dozens of activists from green peace staged monday before the ship left port. they say the fuel is dangerous.

it will arrive in japan in about two months. managers at many small factories have to learn to adapt or face the consequences. but it can be difficult for those who worked in the same business for years. not so for the owner of one japanese company. it turns out his hobby gave him the idea of saving his business. >> reporter: staff at the factory take a ride. they work for a company in this prefecture. they designed and built a train. this small company used to make

machines that were traditional fabrics. but they stopped production nine years ago. >> translator: even if we were to make the machines, no one out there buys them anymore. we started to think about what else we could do with the skills we had developed from making the machines. >> he also has another skill to draw on, building trains as a hobby. and the train has something in common. they need a power source to make

trains with. you can put any kind of boxcar on the base that has been assembled. this was made for model train fans. but it caught the attention of people at the railroad technical research institute. cutting edge or technologies. he has been working on the safety device for high speed trains. so they asked him to make a small test train. in order to make an accurate product, he has those from seven factories that used to work with him. >> translator: i was in charge of this axle and wheel. at first, i didn't know what to do. >> he asked his engineers experienced in building and tech service to assemble the parts. >> translator: even if all the individual pieces have been made precisely, it's understanding all the pieces and putting them

all together. >> it is completed in four months. the modern supersized is a fractional millimeter. the train is tested and railway experts are delight with the product. >> translator: it's difficult to weld so many parts with such precision. the fact they were able to do it so precisely amazed me. >> the stability and to prevent the trains from tipping over once they go over the rails.

summer is exploring other uses for his train and to serve them abroad. >> translator: i think the model trains are more popular overseas. if we could reach enough customers there, i believe the trains could be our main product line. >> traditional craftsmanship helps ensure assist modern railways and a journey for potential rewards. nhk world. time now to get a check on the weather. people in northern europe are enjoing rming weather. mai shoji joins us. >> good morning.

the long winter in europe is coming to an end. that warmth could lead to the rapid snow melt and could trigger some flooding. this is what's happening there. spring has been very slow to arrive this year because of the exceptionally cold winter. a burst of warm weather has swept across the country bringing the annual flooding. one of the hardest hit places is the a town in central latvia. the snow will melt and the conditions may get worse. due to the system bringing a cold front into france we may see some thunderstorms popping up but generally speaking really

clear and nice except for the british isles with with system moving in. we have reports of wind of 100 kilometers per hour and that's likely to continue in the northern areas especially ireland. mix precipitation will be likely. berlin and vienna, we're looki at 24 degrees. madrid some light temperature at 27 degrees. moving onto north america, it's winter in the north and spring down towards the south. typical pattern through this year, but we've seen quite some heavy amounts of snow. this is quite unseasonable. colorado you've seen 72 centineaters many the past 24 hours. that's likely to continue with

skbens noefl. that freezing rain will make traveling very difficult. we cannot rule out the fact there are possibilities of you think leashing tornadoes, hail yet again. that will continue and damaging winds and heavy rain as well. the temperatures are shaping up like this. new york at 16 degrees. oklahoma is down to 13 degrees. denver a bit of milder temperatures than what we compare from yesterday. here across asia we're looking at heavy rain. it has been an ongoing story for a week and for the flooding risk is high. it's going to be high due to the amount of rain that's pouring here in south eastern areas. that's going to continue into

the weekend. things are pretty dry and we look tarts, tokyo 22. seoul at 16 for today. that's going to be dropping in towards the weekend. we want that warmth during the weekend but it's not going to work that way. here is your extended forecast.

that wraps up this edition of "newsline." thanks for joining us.